GAME Not Stocking Mass Effect 3, Other EA Titles, Mario Party 9

Dan Lee 73 Comments

Eurogamer has just run with an article claiming that GAME will not be stocking any EA titles after SSX, which includes Mass Effect 3. Apparently this has been confirmed by a number of GAME stores.

There are conflicting reports as to what will happen to existing pre-orders, as Eurogamer are saying that they won’t be met (and will be refunded with store credit rather than cash) whilst a GAME employee has told StickTwiddlers that existing pre-orders will be sent out.

If true this is terrible news for GAME. We will reach out for an official comment, but as of yet both EA and GAME have said nothing.

Source: Eurogamer / StickTwiddlers

Update: Eurogamer has updated its report, saying that at the moment it’s EA’s March titles that will not be stocked. This includes GameStation, not just GAME.

EA has commented, saying:

“The Mass Effect 3 N7 Collector’s Edition will now be available at the following retailers: Amazon.co.uk, Play.com, Zavvi.com and ShopTo.net.”

For customers who have pre-ordered the N7 Collector’s Edition please re-order your copies through these retailers.  If you have placed a deposit for a pre-order or are uncertain that your existing pre-order will be guaranteed, please contact your local retailer.

Your local retailer is doing everything possible to make this process as smooth as possible to ensure you get your copy on launch day.”

Update 2: Eurogamer is also reporting that the retailer will not be stocking Nintendo’s flagship Mario Party 9 title.

Update 3: Clarity on the refund issue. It’s your cash back and £5 credit by way of an apology. From what we can gather from the leaked GAME memo, it sounds like EA weren’t happy giving credit to the retailer, so GAME had to pull out of the releases. They are limited to March though, with hopefully EA games being sold after next month.

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73 Comments

  1. If this turns out to be the case I feel sorry for the employees. Lots of people will lose their jobs if GAME ends up shutting. I don’t like or buy from GAME but as others have said on other articles, they are needed on the high street.

  2. Wonder what happens to the likes of Armoured Core V and Yakuza.. even Unit 13 could be trouble.

    Poor ol Game.. R.I.P… hopefully there isn’t worst whatever replaces it

  3. Arse biscuits, I have £45 store credit at GAME that was going to be used on ME3. I shudder to think how pricy games online and in supermarkets are going to get if GAMEGroup fold

  4. If you’ve pre-ordered from Game’s website the official word is to re-order from a different retailer. Details here:
    http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2012/02/29/game-not-stocking-mass-effect-3/

  5. Update 4 – GAME are CR*P anyway LoL:D

    • Who let the troll out of the cage?

  6. Awww Crap! If GAME goes bump, thats it. The bottom will fall out of the UK games market becuase Tesco etc will only stock the big titles and all fo the little titles wont get a look in. Something needs to happen and quick.

  7. I think someone noted somewhere that EA where unlikely to be penalising GAME deliberately as it ultimately harms one of their revenue sources. I agree with the principal but EA have proven to be a tough publisher when it comes to selling games – just look at the problems between EA and Steam. I think if EA had any doubt over the financials of a seller, they’d take a hard line with them without question.

    Can’t see GAME recovering from this, at least not in the form they exist now.

  8. Seems like GAME are circling the drain now. It’s one set back after another, can’t see how they are going to get out of this mess.

  9. Not sure what it’s like in the towns of other TSAers, but for me in a small town, Blockbuster have an impressive range of new and used games for both sale and rent. Better than the Game store I visited in a large town just before christmas in fact. Just an FYI for those looking for another high street retailer.

    And no, I don’t work for Blockbuster :P

    Bad news for Game really. A shame, as they’ve been there for all my gaming needs since I was knee high to a grass-hopper until early in this generation of gaming. And that was when over half the store was dedicated to PC gaming (queue Hovis music).

    Is it just me or does that last bit sound like “I remember when all this was just fields!” for the gaming generation?

  10. I’ve been absolutely burned here, I pre-ordered ME3 with Gamestation so that I could just walk into the store, pick up a copy, go home and play the game day one. Now I won’t get the cash back so I can’t afford (moneys tight atm) to buy it until the end of March (at the very least) from elsewhere, and someones bound to ruin the game I specifically went on a media blackout for over Twitter or Facebook. Arrrgh.
    Still, I can get another new game from Game with instore credit, can’t I? Oh wait, they won’t be stocking new releases from now on so no to that as well. Fuck this shit, I learned my lesson about trusting retailers, I’ll stick to online purchases from now on.

    • The only other game I want at the moment is SSX, which apparently they will stock, but that’s no substitute for ME3 :(

      • there is a solution to this, but a psn point card for £40 & then buy ME3 on psn store since it will be released same day on psn also. Problem solved

      • Demand that they refund your cash as i think they are legally bound to refund it if they can’t deliever the product that they promised. I think Wonderbra would know more that type of stuff.

        You could always get it from your local Tescos/ASDA/Morrisons as they tend to have a new major release in stock for roughly £40. :)

      • Problem is, it’ll most likely be £50-60, but I should be able to stump up the extra PSN credit. Still can’t believe this bullshit though.

      • Incase you haven’t noticed it has been updated. Your actually quids in. Full refund in cash and a GAME card for a fiver.

      • These comments were made before update 3: Thank god for that! Better find somewhere online to order when I get my money back now :)

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